Scars
by sherbetlemon22
Summary: Eliza Prewett never gets detention, that is, until her 6th year when suddenly she finds herself in detention every week, and with Draco Malfoy nonetheless. Things really take a turn for the worse when Potter starts to suspect Malfoy is a Death Eater and asks Eliza to spy on him. Soon, though, she starts to realize that the differences between good & evil are not so easily defined.
1. When lightning strikes

Eliza Prewett too often found herself in the wrong place at the wrong time. When she was five, her cousins bet her a galleon she couldn't climb the tallest tree in their garden. Half-way up, it started to rain, but she was determined, so she kept going. The tree was struck by lightning before she could even reach the top. Luckily, she wasn't hurt too badly, nothing a well-done Brackium Emendo spell couldn't fix.

Then there was the time at the Quiddich World Cup. It was a double-whammy. She got hit in the head with the bludger and the campsite was attacked by Death Eaters. This required a mixture of Brackium Emendo, Episkey, Tergeo, and a shot of Firewhiskey. The firewhiskey was her Uncle Arthur's idea.

Then there was today. The first day of her sixth year. Everything was fine until it wasn't.

Like always, she sat with Susan, Hannah, and Ernie during the back-to-school feast. They were all talking casually about their summers while tiptoeing around the topic of families. Susan's aunt was killed only a couple months prior. Susan seemed to be handling it as well as anyone possibly could. Eliza wasn't sure how she remained so strong. This wasn't the first member of her family to be murdered by Death Eaters. And sadly, the way things were going, there was a chance it wouldn't be the last.

"Look," Ernie said, nudging Eliza's arm. He nodded towards the Great Hall's entrance. Eliza turned her head and immediately wanted to throw up. Harry Potter was standing there covered in blood. He didn't make eye-contact with anyone. He looked forward and headed straight for the Gryffindor table. Hermione and Ron were visibly upset. They looked how Eliza's stomach felt; she had never been good with blood.

"I wonder what happened." Hannah said, leaning forward in an attempt to make their conversation more private.

Susan's eyes widened. "You should ask Hermione during Prefect duties."

Hannah shook her head. "I can't ask that! I mean we're friends, but not like that. Liza should ask Ron."

Suddenly, all three of them were focused on Eliza. Her cheeks flushed. She hated being the center of attention. "I'm not asking him that. That's weird."

"He's your cousin-"

"We'll know what happened in no time, anyway." Ernie said, interrupting Susan. "It's Hogwarts."

Everyone nodded in agreement, and Eliza felt a rush of relief. Sure, if she'd asked Ron, he would have told her what happened. But she hated going to him, constantly asking for the latest gossip on Harry Potter. It was awkward and she always ended up saying the wrong thing.

The feast didn't last much longer. Everyone started to become restless after Harry's grand entrance. People were on edge anyway. There was a lot of uncertainty and speculation going around now that it was confirmed He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was back.

Heather and Ernie started to gather the first years so they could take them to the common room. Susan and Eliza stayed behind, knowing there was no point heading there now, not with a crowd of first years in the way.

The Great Hall cleared out quickly, only handfuls of people still scattered around. Some students were catching up with their friends from different houses while others were finishing off the leftover desserts. Harry was talking to Ginny, Dean, and Seamus. Eliza wondered if they, like her friends, were as interested in what happened to him. She almost suggested that her and Susan walk over, but hesitated when she noticed Malfoy approaching them. Pansy was right beside him, latched onto his arm. His usual body-guards, Crabbe and Goyle were stuffing their faces with chocolate cake.

"What happened to your face, Potter?" Malfoy asked, causing Pansy to erupt in a fit of laughter.

"Bugger off, Malfoy." Ginny said, stepping in front of Harry.

"Do you always let girls fight your battles, Potter?" Malfoy asked, a smug expression on his face. "And a Weasley at that? Could you be any more pathetic?"

Ginny looked like she was ready to deck Malfoy in the face. Susan quickly turned to Eliza, her face full of emotion.

"Maybe we should intervene? I don't want Ginny to get in trouble." Susan said, already standing up. Eliza didn't have time to object. She hurried after her friend, spotting Filch from the corner of her eye. Of course he would be involved. He had a six-sense for recognizing when students were breaking the rules.

Ginny pulled out her wand, and before Malfoy could do the same, she sent a bat-bogey hex his way. The hex was so powerful it knocked him off his feet, pushing him backwards and causing him to fall into Eliza. She stumbled to the floor, landing on what she assumed was Susan or another student. It wasn't until Filch loudly squealed in her ear that she realized she'd actually fallen on him.

Malfoy struggled to stand up, the bats flying out of his nose causing a bit of a problem. Filch would not stop screaming. Eliza wanted to scream herself. Once Malfoy got off her, she hurried to her feet, immediately checking to see what was wrong with Filch. The queasiness in her stomach returned instantly. His leg was broken in half.

"Get Headmaster Dumbledore, now!" Filch yelled. Susan nodded and quickly scurried away. Eliza could do nothing but stare. How was this happening?

Dumbledore had Filch transported to the Hospital Wing and ordered everyone to their common rooms. Susan recalled the entire scenario to Hannah and Ernie. She elaborated slightly, but kept mostly to the facts. Everything happened so fast it didn't seem real. At some parts, Eliza felt like she was hearing the story for the first time. But it did happen, and somehow, she ended up in the middle of it.

Everyone was so engrossed in the story, they didn't even notice the tiny second year approach. After almost two minutes of quiet, forced coughs in an effort to gain their attention, Hannah finally noticed the girl.

"Do you need something?" she asked, using her programmed, concerned Prefect voice. The girl shook her head and handed a letter to Eliza.

"What's this?" Eliza asked, not recognizing the imprint in the wax seal. The girl didn't reply, and instead rushed away towards the dormitories.

"That was strange." Ernie commented, but Eliza paid him no attention. She was too busy reading her letter. It was from Dumbledore.

"Dumbledore has requested me to his office—immediately."

As expected, she was given three very intense looks of concern.

"W-why would he do that?" Hannah asked, completely mortified.

"I don't know!" Eliza all but yelled. She didn't mean to get upset, but there were endless possibilities as to why Dumbledore wanted to see her, and none of them had very positive outcomes. "I should go…"

"Good luck," Ernie said, grabbing her hand and squeezing it. Eliza wanted to vomit.

She stood outside Dumbledore's office for quite some time before finally mustering up enough courage to step inside. He was sitting behind his desk, his hands hidden in his lap. He merely lifted his gaze when she opened the door, and she thought she noticed a hint of a smile on his face.

"Sorry, I'm late. I-"

"Please, take a seat Ms. Prewett." Dumbledore said calmly, turning his attention to the two chairs in front of his desk.

For the first time, Eliza noticed the two of them weren't alone. There was another student sitting in one of the chairs, a head of white-blonde hair slightly poking over the top. She sat down, and refused to look at the boy next to her. She didn't need to look to know it was Draco Malfoy. Any situation that involved her, Malfoy and Dumbledore could definitely not be good.

"Do either of you have any idea why I called you here tonight?" Dumbledore asked, his eyes darting between the pair of them. Malfoy didn't say a word, and Eliza couldn't think straight enough to form sentences. After a few seconds of silence, Dumbledore spoke again, "Madam Pomfrey is taking very good care of Argus. He should recover just fine. There were some complications though…"

Eliza bit her lip. She felt like crying.

"He has rejected every spell and potion Madam Pomfrey can think of. Sometimes these things happen. Argus will just have to heal the muggle-way."

"What does this have to do with me?" Malfoy asked, obviously irritated. Dumbledore raised his brows, and Malfoy added a hushed "sir" in hopes that would satisfy him.

"Argus named the two of you responsible for his accident."

"No," Eliza said, surprising herself. Quickly, she tried to make amends. "Sorry, sir, it's just that, I-I-"

"It was that Weasley's girl fault!" Malfoy interjected.

Dumbledore paused before speaking again. "Argus will have difficulties fulfilling his duties as caretaker while he is injured, so I've decided to offer him your services. On Wednesday nights and Sundays I will need the two of you to assist Argus with whatever he may need until his leg heals properly."

"That could take months!" Malfoy exclaimed, pounding his fist on the desk.

"Yes, Mr. Malfoy, indeed it may."

"But Professor—Headmaster—sir," Eliza couldn't seem to get her words out. There were so many thoughts circulating through her head. This was detention. She was being assigned detention with Filch, and Malfoy. She was going to be forced to spend extended amounts of time with Filch and Malfoy. It was a hard concept to wrap her head around. "I-I've never had detention before, ever I-I-"

"There's always a first time for everything." Dumbledore said, he appeared rather pleased. What did she do to deserve this type of torture?

It wasn't much longer before Dumbledore excused them, but not before reminding them their first night of Filch-duty would be the coming Wednesday. The two of them were almost too eager to leave the room, and practically raced each other to the door. Malfoy nearly shoulder-checked Eliza to beat her out the door. He was so impossibly rude, and now she had to experience his rudeness two times a week—indefinitely. All because she was in the wrong place at the wrong time, again.


	2. No rest for the wicked

"Filch told Dumbledore you broke his leg?" Hannah asked, trying to make sense of the situation. She, Ernie, and Susan had been quizzing Eliza about her punishment all morning. They seemed to be in shock, as had she last night, but now she didn't really have any other choice but to accept it.

"Yes. Well, me and Malfoy."

"But I was there! I know you didn't have anything to do with it. You were just in the wrong place at the wrong time." Susan said, trying to be supportive, but even though what she was saying was true, it didn't change anything. It wasn't like Susan was going to convince Dumbledore or Filch otherwise, and even if she could, Eliza would never ask her to do that.

"It just isn't fair," Ernie said, slamming his fist on the table. "You've never even as much as gotten house points taken away before!"

Ernie was always the first to defend Eliza. Hannah and Susan insisted it was because he fancied her, but she never bought into their suspicions. He was just her friend, the same as he was with the two of them. They just wanted something new to gossip about.

"It'll be okay," she insisted, although she must not have sounded very convincing, because if anything they looked more upset than before. She sighed heavily. "It will be. Stop worrying."

The three of them smiled, but neither of them looked any less concerned. It was to be expected, though. Everyone always worried about Eliza. Whether it was her family or friends, people never believed she was strong enough to handle any single problem on her own. It wasn't true, but she was tired of trying to convince them that.

Luckily, Professor Sprout provided a change in conversation by handing the four of them their timetables. Eliza was decently surprised to see Potions on her schedule. She had goals of becoming a healer, meaning Potions was an absolute must, but Snape didn't allow anything less than an Outstanding in his N.E.W.T level course. So, she had spent majority of her summer distraught over not receiving an Outstanding, completely oblivious to the fact that there would be a change in professor, a professor that apparently didn't have as high of standards.

"Lots of free time this year," Susan observed, smiling widely.

Hannah looked at her incredulously. "You do understand the workload we are going to have this year, right? There will be no such thing as 'free time'. That time is supposed to be used on homework unless you want to fall behind."

Susan rolled her eyes. "Calm down, crazy. It's only the first day."

Hannah stood up, grabbing her bag. "We'll see who's crazy tomorrow when we're already up to our necks in school work!"

"Wait for me," Eliza said, standing up as well. They both had Defense Against the Dark Arts first. However, she instantly regretted her decision. Hannah spent the entire walk to class ranting about how important this year was, and how irresponsible Susan was being for not taking it more seriously. Luckily for Eliza, she didn't want an opinion or commentary, she just wanted a sounding board, so that's what she was.

After a full day of classes, Eliza found everything Hannah said to be true—this year was definitely no joke. She already had three essays due by Thursday. Not to mention, she received a note from Dumbledore, reminding her about detention tomorrow night. She had absolutely no idea how long that was expected to take, so she figured she should at least try to get a decent jump on her essays before then.

Wednesday night came much faster than desired. She barely received any sleep the night before, causing her to doze off multiple times during classes and dinner. She made sure to be on time to detention, though. She didn't want to get things started on the wrong foot. She and Filch didn't have much of a relationship; which was considerably a good thing. Filch spent most of his time trying to catch students breaking the rules, and Eliza hated getting in trouble.

Filch's office was dark and dreary. There were chains and manacles hanging from the ceiling, and a giant file cabinet marked 'Confiscated and Highly Dangerous'. Eliza stood over in the corner; neither Filch nor Malfoy was there yet. She started to feel very nervous. She didn't know what to expect. Over the years, Fred and George had told her several horror stories about him. Tales that involved whipping and disembowelment. Eliza couldn't handle punishment like that. She wanted to do something simple like write lines.

The door opened, and in strutted Malfoy. He looked highly unsatisfied, as he should be. He was at fault for all of this, after all. He half-heartily looked around before sitting in Filch's chair. Eliza wasn't sure if she should say something or not. She couldn't even remember ever having a conversation with him before.

"What's your name again," he asked, pulling Eliza out of her reverie. She looked at him with wide eyes. She hadn't expected him to speak first, or well, at all.

She heisted. "Eliza…Prewett."

"Are you a pure-blood?" She wasn't surprised by the question. The Prewett family name was one of the sacred Twenty-Eight, after all.

"My father was a wizard, but my mum is a muggle."

"Oh," Malfoy said, and immediately lost any interest he'd had in her.

The door slammed open, and Filch stumbled in. There was a cast on his left leg that started at his foot and ended half-way up his thigh. He was using forearm crutches to walk, but it didn't appear to be going very well.

"Sorry I'm late," he grumbled. He was wheezing and looked considerably out of breath. Crutches were not an easy contraption to master, especially with his poor health and age. "It's harder for me to get around now that you lot broke my leg."

"Mr. Filch, sir-" Eliza wanted to apologize. She knew it wasn't her fault, but she felt badly about the circumstances. There was a lot working against the poor man already.

"I don't want to hear it!" he exclaimed, his voice cracking. Her stomach twisted in knots. "Now, obviously, in my condition, I can't do much. Tonight, I need the two of you to polish all the silver in the trophy room. It hasn't been cleaned all summer."

Malfoy hopped to his feet. "Easy enough."

Eliza agreed. Everything she'd imagined was far worse than this. She followed Malfoy to the door, ready to get the task started.

"Not so fast." Filch said. Eliza swore she could hear amusement in his voice. "The best way to polish silver is by hand, so no magic."

"That will take hours," Malfoy whined, as if Filch cared about that at all.

"Better get started now, then. And be sure to do it right the first time. I will make you restart if I notice even a single fingerprint."

Malfoy and Eliza made their trek to the third-floor in silence. The trophy room was larger than she remembered. There were close to 100 different crystal glass displays around the room. Each contained various different awards, trophies, cups, plates, shields, and statues, and seemingly all of them were made from silver, naturally.

"You can take that side of the room, and I'll do the other." Malfoy said. He didn't give Eliza a chance to object before walking away. She didn't really care, though. It seemed fair enough and she wasn't the type to argue for the sake of arguing.

It took nearly three hours for the pair to finish. Filch checked in on them every hour on the hour, but never had much of anything to say. Polishing silver was tedious work, and by the end, Eliza's felt like her wrist might fall off. Malfoy had the same irritated expression on his face that he did when they began. She wondered how a person could be that miserable all the time. Sure, she wasn't in the best of moods, but she wasn't mad at the world over one lousy detention. Maybe a month from now her opinion would be different, but as of right now, she was just happy they were done and hoped their next chore would at least be less boring.

"See you Saturday," Eliza said, biting her lip. He didn't even glance in her direction before striding away, heading straight for the staircase. She anticipated this is what majority of her Wednesdays and Saturdays would consist of, silence and avoidance of eye contact. She wasn't necessarily upset by this because she assumed things could always be worse, he could have spent the entire time insulting her.

Eliza grudgingly made her way to the Hufflepuff common room, unenthused about the long night she still had ahead of her. It was almost midnight when she reached her dorm room, and she hadn't even made a dent on her essay about nonverbal spells. If every week was like this one, it seemed she would never get another decent night's sleep. Of all the years to get her first detention, she picked the worst, she thought, dipping her quill in ink. She could only hope, somehow, something good would come of all of this.

THANKS FOR READING! PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW. I promise things will get more exciting, once Malfoy decides to stop being a prick…


	3. Secret Plans

Two weeks into school, and Eliza already felt like she was drowning. Every class she had a new essay or slew of readings assigned, and on top of all that, she had detention twice a week. Sleep was hard to come by these days. So far, the detentions hadn't been terrible; shining silver in the trophy room had been the worst. She avoided talking to Malfoy as much as possible, not that he was actually looking for conversation. Every time he spoke, he either had something rude to say or merely grunted, so Eliza just stopped trying all together eventually.

Currently, she was studying with Ginny and Hermione in the library. She had an essay on Polyjuice Potions due Thursday, and with detention tomorrow night, she knew tonight was her best option to get it done. Of course, Hermione was already finished. She actually allowed Eliza to use hers as a reference, as long as she promised not to copy anything. Surprisingly, or maybe not so surprisingly, Hermione knew a lot about Polyjuice Potion. Way more than the text book outlined, and Eliza needed all the help she could get. She was rubbish at potions. Even when she followed a recipe word for word, her potions never came out perfect.

"How long do the effects last?" Eliza asked. Hermione glanced up from her notes.

"Anywhere from 10 minutes to 12 hours."

"I would assume most potions last longer than that, right? 10 minutes? That seems like a waste for a potion that takes a month to make."

"I-I have no idea." Hermione muttered nervously.

Eliza raised a brow. "Don't you think, though?"

Ginny was interested now. Hermione knew the answer to everything, so her hesitations and stuttering were reasons to cause attention.

"You must have an opinion." Ginny said, eyeing her friend questionably.

"There's no way to know. Not unless you tried it out yourself, but if I had to guess, I would think a typical Polyjuice Potion lasts longer than 10 minutes. The effects would probably start to wear off after a couple hours. Yes, they definitely wouldn't stop all at once. But these are just guesses. Like I said, you wouldn't actually be able to know-"

"Hey ladies," Harry interrupted. He and Ron seemingly appeared out of nowhere, and they looked way too happy for two sixth years. Eliza and her friends looked stressed and tired all the time. There was no escaping it-unless you were Harry Potter or Ron Weasley, apparently.

"Hey," Hermione said a little too excitedly, gesturing for them to sit down. Ron did as she asked and sat beside his sister. Harry moved closer to Eliza but didn't sit down.

"Liza," Harry said, a tinge of urgency in his voice. He placed a hand on her shoulder and bent over. "Can I talk to you?"

She arched a brow. "Of c-course."

"Privately," he mouthed, and she nodded quickly before standing up. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her aside. Her stomach was doing somersaults. She had not a single clue what he wanted.

Eliza considered herself friends with Harry. They'd spent quite a few summers and holidays together at the Burrow; he was basically a part of her family. Yet, in all that time, she couldn't recall a single time they'd had a private conversation. Harry always had a lot going on and didn't trust anyone outside of Ron and Hermione. Eliza wasn't the type to force her way into conversations like Susan or Hannah might, so whenever her cousin and his mates huddled together and started talking in hushed whispers, she searched for something else to do, no questions asked. So now, she found herself in unchartered territory. Suddenly, Harry was looking at her the same way he would Ron or Hermione. He was looking at her as if whatever he had to say was life or death.

"You're in detention with Malfoy, right?"

She nodded. So far, she had no idea where this conversation was going.

"Has he been acting…suspicious?"

Eliza furrowed her brows. She wasn't sure what his definition of suspicious was, but Malfoy didn't seem out of the ordinary. Malfoy was just… Malfoy: a spoiled, arrogant prick.

"No," she said, and his face fell, her answer clearly disappointing him. Her stomach tightened. "I mean, we don't really talk."

"Have you noticed any markings on his arm?"

Eliza shook her head. She hadn't been paying Malfoy that much attention, honestly. She definitely didn't remember seeing any markings on his arm. In fact, she could have sworn he always wore his sleeves down…

Harry sucked in his lips and ran a hand through his hair. He seemed agitated. She wasn't sure what type of answers he was looking for, but obviously she didn't have them.

"Harry," she said quietly, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Maybe, if you tell me what's going on, I can be more help."

He looked at her straight in the eyes; it felt like he was trying to decide if he could trust her not. She wished he would. Eliza felt like she owed him. Despite creating the D.A. last year, and risking expulsion to teach her, among several others, how to defend themselves against dark magic, he was also personally fighting a war against the most infamous wizard of all time. He was a hero, and she would do whatever she could to help him.

He moved closer to her. Their faces practically touching. "I have reason to believe Malfoy is a Death Eater."

Her eyes widened. She couldn't hide her shock. Malfoy was by no means a good person, but a Death Eater? He was only 16! That seemed a little too far-fetched.

"Oh." There wasn't anything else she could say. She didn't have any classified information. Malfoy had barely muttered 10 words to her since their first detention. She was in no position to judge whether or not he was a Death Eater.

"How often do you have detention?" he asked.

"Wednesday nights and Sundays."

"That's quite a lot of time…to spend with one person."

Eliza nodded. Again, she had no idea where the conversation was going. "I-I guess."

"Do you think you could-" he paused, rethinking his question.

"I could what?" she asked. She needed to know what he wanted. She wanted to help.

"Would you be willing to…watch him…and talk to him? See if you notice anything out of the ordinary—something that would reveal he's a Death Eater?"

Eliza was completely caught off guard. He wanted her to spy on Draco Malfoy. She didn't have a single elusive or cunning bone in her body. He would figure it out right away. She had to say no.

"Please, Liza. It would mean so much to me."

"Sure, okay."

His eyes lit up. She had no idea where those words came from or why they left her mouth. She wanted to say no, she needed to tell him she couldn't do it, but the words wouldn't come. He was looking at her like she'd just given him the best news of his life, and she couldn't deny him of that.

"I can't promise that anything will come of it. He pretty much ignores me whenever I talk…" She said, but he didn't seem to care.

He grabbed her hands and squeezed them. "Any bit of information is fine. Thank you so much for doing this."

She forced a smile. "No problem."

Eliza decided not to tell her friends about what Harry had asked her. She figured if she had any chance of success, she needed to keep his request to herself. The less anyone knew, the better. She wasn't very confident anything would come from her snooping, though. She was a terrible liar, and didn't have the slightest clue how to manipulate information out of people. And if he was a Death Eater, what then? If he found out she was spying on him he might kill her! Really, she had no idea what she'd gotten herself into. Before this year, Eliza had spent her time completely off everyone's radars, but that was definitely not the case anymore, and she felt very upset because of it. Life was so much easier when she was just another Hufflepuff girl, and now she was a part of the 'Chosen One's' master plan. She missed the simple life, but it was so far out of her reach now. There was no going back.

THANKS FOR READING! The next one will definitely be interesting…the story will pick up a lot over the next few parts. PLEASE REVIEW!


	4. Late night strolls

Eliza spent the whole day thinking of ways she could coax Malfoy into a conversation later that night. It was easier said than done, seeing as she was awful at making small talk and Malfoy seemingly hated her. She hardly knew anything about him besides the obvious: he was a pompous Slytherin that played Quidditch. Those facts alone didn't provide much opportunity for things to talk about. She couldn't ask him why he was an arrogant bastard, and Quidditch terminology was definitely not her forte.

She wished she could ask her friends for help, but she already decided that was a bad idea. For starters, Susan wasn't the best at keeping secrets, and she couldn't risk anyone finding out. It was all up to her, which, undoubtedly meant failure, but she at least had to try—for the greater good and all that.

She was surprised to find Hagrid in Filch's office that evening. He took up almost the entire room, leaving Eliza to linger in the doorway.

"Hiya, Liza." Hagrid said, waving his hand.

She smiled widely. "Hey, Hagrid, where's Filch-"

"Move," Malfoy said, pushing Eliza to the side. She stumbled slightly, but quickly regained her balance. She shot him an annoyed look but he didn't see.

"Why are you here?" Malfoy asked, referring to Hagrid.

Hagrid tightened his jaw, visibly upset. "Err Argus is a bit poorly t'night. Dumbledore asked me to err look out for ye both."

Malfoy rolled his eyes. "If the squib is sick we shouldn't have to be here."

"Dumbledore disagrees." Hagrid replied. Eliza offered him a smile. Of course, she would prefer not to have detention, but she liked Hagrid and didn't want to give him a hard time, and besides, Malfoy seemed to have that covered anyway.

"What's our assignment?" Eliza asked. The sooner they started, the sooner she could get the humiliation of trying to talk to Malfoy over with.

"Some Acromantula have been dyin' recently. I need ye both to collect their venom for testin'. I err 'ave other matters to tend to t'night."

"That can't be safe. Acromantula eat their dead AND feed on humans." Malfoy said, narrowing his eyes.

Hagrid vigorously shook his head. "No, no, no—I-I talked to Aragog. He said he would keep the colony away sos we can find out what's been goin' on."

"Aragog?" Malfoy asked, raising a brow.

"He's the colony's leader." Hagrid clarified.

"Hagrid," Eliza said. Malfoy quickly turned to look at her as if he just remembered she was in the room. "Where are the Acromantulas?"

"The Forbidden Forrest."

Eliza wanted to cry. Nothing about the Forbidden Forrest sounded like a place she wanted to go, especially at night. So far, she'd managed to avoid it during her time at Hogwarts, that was, until tonight. Hagrid supplied them with vials to collect the venom and sent them on their way. He instructed them on where to find the bodies. Apparently, other members of the colony had moved the bodies closer to the outskirts of the forest so Hagrid, or anyone else for that matter, wouldn't have to travel to where the Acromantula actually resided. Still, any trip to the forest, no matter how far inside, was not a trip Eliza wanted to take.

At first, she and Malfoy walked in silence. They used a combination of Lumos Maxima and their wands for light as they trudged across the lawns, making their way to the heavily wooded forest. Her mind was racing a mile a minute as she searched for something to say to get Malfoy talking. He was walking ahead of her now, his long legs allowing him to cover more ground faster.

"Maybe a bit of light conversation would help make the time go by faster?" Eliza asked, attempting to keep pace with him. She was practically jogging.

"No," he said, without hesitation.

"Oh, come on." She said, looking up at him. His grey eyes glanced at her quickly before returning forward. "Humor me."

"What could you possibly want to talk about?"

"Nothing in particular, I guess. Just something to fill the time. The possibilities are endless, really. Maybe we can start with how you spent your summer?" She suspected she sounded quite foolish; her thoughts were jumbled and rushed.

"No." his answer was to be expected. What was she thinking? That a question about his summer would prompt him to spill all his Death Eater secrets? Stupid.

"No problem, I can go first." Again, he glanced at her a quick second before looking away. She was sure she was just imagining it, but she could have sworn he was walking slower now. "I spent most of my summer in Devon. My Aunty and Uncle live there."

"The Weasley's, right?" he asked, and she nodded. She was slightly surprised by his question. It wasn't a secret that she was related to the Weasley's, but it wasn't something she expected Malfoy to know, considering he hadn't even known her name up until a few weeks ago.

"Yeah, we're really close. I lived with them for a while when I was younger." She felt weird sharing these things with him, or really speaking to him at all.

"Where are your parents?" he asked without any emotion in his voice. Eliza tried to hide the tinge of pain she felt. She never talked about her parents to anyone.

"My father is dead, and my Mum lives in Kent. She's had some struggles with the wizarding world." She said, attempting to keep her voice steady. He was looking at her now, staring hard, but she refused to meet his gaze. "Your turn. How was your summer?"

"Lovely," he scoffed, leading Eliza to believe it had been anything but. "I had a lot of family things to attend to. My father is in Azkaban."

She feigned surprise, but of course she already knew this. Anyone who read the Daily Prophet knew of the various men and women that were arrested last spring for conspiring with You-Know-Who.

"I'm sorry. I can't even imagine-"

He lifted a hand, silencing her. "Don't pretend to care."

She hesitated. "I-I just know what it's like, to be let down by one of your parents." He raised a brow, and she continued. "It isn't fair, and not many people understand that."

Silence fell between them. She thought maybe he would try to defend his father, or refuse to agree with her, but after a long pause all he said was, "I guess."

After what felt like hours, they finally reached the Acromantulas' corpses. They were huge. Much bigger than Eliza ever imagined, and even though they were dead, being near them still sent a zillion shivers down her spine. She took a step back. They looked like they were merely resting and that at any moment, they could wake up and attack. Her stomach tightened when she thought about getting close enough to them to retrieve the venom. Each one had eight black eyes that were staring blankly into the distance, and their long, black hair was coated in dirt, probably from being dragged through the forest.

"I-I don't like this." Eliza said, biting the inside of her cheek. She could feel tears forming behind her eyes.

Malfoy looked at her, and, surprisingly, didn't roll his eyes, instead, he reached towards her. "It's fine. Give me your vials. I'll do it."

Eliza sighed with relief and handed the vials over. She hadn't expected him to do that—to show any sympathy towards her. She watched quietly as he drained the Acromantulas of their venom. It didn't take longer than 10 minutes for him to finish. Really, it was one of the easiest things they'd been asked to do during detention.

Silence engulfed them again on their walk back. Eliza felt quite accomplished with their talk earlier, however slight it was, and didn't want to push her luck by unloading another set of conversation starters on him. She did notice that he was not walking several steps ahead anymore, and instead was matching her pace quite well without her having to jog to keep up. She didn't know, however, if he doing this because he was tired from before, or on purpose. She liked to hope it was the latter because that would possibly mean she'd been the tiniest bit successful at getting him to hate her less.

"We're almost to the castle now, so you can stop holding your breath. The dead spiders can't hurt you." Malfoy said as they finally reached the edge of the forest.

Eliza shot him a look. Did she really look that terrified? "They're hardly spiders. Those things were the size of a carthorse!"

Malfoy laughed under his breath. "They were dead, regardless."

"That doesn't make them any less scary." Eliza said, meeting Malfoy's gaze. He immediately looked away, and she quickly added, "Thanks, though. For taking the reins back there."

He mumbled something under his breath that Eliza couldn't make out, but before she could ask him to repeat himself, he was several meters away, obviously no longer caring about walking at her pace. She really couldn't complain though. She considered today a tremendous success. She'd gotten him to talk to her AND she made him laugh. Those were definitely feats she hadn't expected to surpass—at least not so soon.


	5. Potion disasters

Eliza pushed her eggs from one side of the plate to the other as her mates talked casually around her. She was hardly paying attention to them. Instead, she was replaying her conversation with Malfoy from the night before. In general, she felt like things went really well. Sure, during their Sunday detention he would probably go back to ignoring her, but for now, she was satisfied with what she had accomplished. Really, she couldn't wait to tell Harry. Even though she hadn't actually learned anything about Malfoy, there had definitely been progress. Maybe, she wasn't that bad of a spy after all.

"Earth to Liza!" Susan said, pulling Eliza from her reverie, she offered her friend a half smile.

"Sorry," she mumbled, biting the inside of her cheek. "I'm just so stressed about…school, and all that."

"Tell me about it," Hannah agreed, exhaling dramatically. "It feels like I never have time to sleep."

Susan shrugged. "It hasn't been that bad for me."

"Well, we can't all be blessed with natural smarts." Hannah replied, rolling her eyes. Ernie laughed, causing a bit of Pumpkin juice to dribble on his chin. She wasn't wrong, though. Sure, Susan had the work-ethic of a dead person, but she truly was a genius. Yet, because she refused to actually try, she didn't always get the highest marks, but she more than passed with ease, and that's all that mattered to her. Eliza wished she could be that lucky. At this point, she was pretty confident she was going to fail Potions, which would completely diminish her hopes of becoming a Healer. She just couldn't get it. Even when she followed the Potion's book exactly, it still came out wrong.

"It's amazing you aren't in Ravenclaw," Ernie said, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

"Oh stop! You're making me blush." Susan replied with a wide grin.

Hannah nudged Eliza. "We should get going. Professor Slughorn is known to grade easier on his students that arrive to class early."

Eliza sighed. "I could show up to class yesterday and it still wouldn't matter."

"Don't say that!" Ernie insisted, reaching across the table and grabbing her hand. "You are brilliant."

Eliza smiled half-heartily. "Thanks, mate."

"Let's go," Hannah said, standing up. Eliza pulled her hand from Ernie's and did the same, waving goodbye to friends as she made her way out of the Great Hall.

On the way to the dungeons, Hannah spotted a group of Slytherin boys with a plethora of objects from Weasley's Wizard Wheezers, which are, as she said about half a dozen times, banned at Hogwarts. So, of course, she had to confiscate all of them, and take down the students' names to tell their respective prefects in order for proper punishment to be given. Eliza tried telling her that it was no use. Slytherin prefects were not very adamant about punishing the members of their house. In fact, she could recall, on more than one occasion, Pansy Parkinson actually encouraging bullying and bad behavior.

Because of their pit-stop, Hannah and Eliza actually ended up being late to class. Usually, they sat with Harry, Hermione, and Ron, but today, their table was already full. In fact, all the tables were filled except for one—the one with Blaise Zabini and Draco Malfoy. The girls sat done reluctantly. Eliza could feel Malfoy's grey eyes on her, but she didn't dare look at him. Instead, she focused on Slughorn. He looked rather displeased by their late arrival, but didn't say anything. Instead, he cleared his throat and continued on with the day's lesson. They were learning to make Polyjuice Potion.

After talking for what seemed like forever, Slughorn finally dismissed them to begin working on their potions. Slughorn provided them all with lacewing flies that had already been stewing for 21 days, as well as fluxweed that was picked during the full moon. This way, they would be able to complete the potion in a couple days instead of the actual month it normally takes.

At first, everything was going smoothly. Eliza completed Step One easily and got to spend 60 minutes gossiping with Hannah while the potion brewed. Step Two is where she started to find trouble. Crushing the lacewings flies was the most difficult. The flies kept sticking to the pestle and she could never get the entire thing off into the brew.

"You're doing it wrong." Malfoy said from across the table. Eliza looked up at him, completely surprised he was talking to her outside of detention. Hannah was evidently surprised too, because she suddenly seemed to have no interest in her potion.

"What do you mean?" she asked so quietly, she wasn't even sure he was able to hear her.

"Don't use a pestle. Use the flat edge of your knife-"

"But it says in the book-" she interrupted him, and he quickly shook his head.

"To be successful at potions, you have to know when to tweak the instructions. Here, watch me." He turned his knife on its side, and pressed the flat edge to the flies. When he lifted the knife, the flies were successfully squished against the blade. Then, he walked around the table, and picked up Eliza's knife before using it to scrape the crushed lacewings into her brew. Instantly, the potion started to boil. "Snape taught me that last year."

Hannah repeatedly glanced between the pair, completely puzzled by what was happening. Even Eliza wasn't sure why he was helping her, but she wasn't complaining. She welcomed any help she could get, no matter who it came from.

"Thanks," she said before biting the inside of her cheek. He shrugged and walked back to his seat before returning to work on his own potion.

"So how have your detentions been going, Liza?" Hannah whispered. Eliza quickly glanced at Malfoy who was busy crushing bicorn horn as him and Zabini whispered back and forth—to her pleasure, she was seemingly off his radar now.

"They've been fine." She replied quietly, her eyes focused on her potion.

"I only ask because Malfoy has never willing talked to us before, and to be helpful nonetheless? It's a little suspicious, if you ask me."

"You're mad that he helped me?" Eliza asked, arching a brow.

"No, no I was just wondering if you two were…friendlier… now." She corrected herself, slightly defensive.

"O-oh no, w-we aren't. We barely even talk." Eliza muttered, avoiding Hannah's gaze. She's never been a good liar. Not that she was lying, exactly, they'd really only had the one conversation, and then there was today—again, nothing remarkable or worth documenting.

Hannah narrowed her eyes, scrutinizing her friend. She couldn't help but feel there was something she wasn't telling her.

"Okay, students, please start cleaning up. You will finish your potions next class period." Slughorn announced, standing up at the front of the class. Eliza and Hannah hurried to clean up their belongings before exiting the room; they only had 15 minutes to get to their next class, Transfiguration, which, unfortunately, was on the other side of the castle.

Hannah was walking way head, determined to get to Transfiguration early, or at the very least, on time. Eliza, on the other hand, didn't really care if she even went to class. She was utterly disappointed about her performance in potions. Being a Healer was something she'd wanted since she was a little girl, and it was quickly slipping through her fingers. Like Malfoy said, to be successful at potions, she needed to know when to alter the instructions, but she had absolutely no idea how to do that. She wished someone would help her, but Hannah was already so stressed with school and prefect duties, she definitely didn't have time to tutor her, and neither Susan nor Ernie were in Advanced Potions. She supposed she could ask Harry—he seemed to be having a lot of success this year, but he also seemed pretty preoccupied with extracurricular activities like Quidditch and saving the world. And then there was Malfoy.

The fact that she was even slightly thinking about asking him was beyond surprising. It wasn't something she would have ever considered before this year, but now, after the promise she made Harry, as well as having detention with him, it no longer seemed like a completely outrageous idea. Of course, she assumed he would say no, but she figured it didn't hurt to ask. Luckily, he was also in Transfiguration. Hopefully, she could catch him before class started.

She waited outside the classroom door. There were only a handful of students inside, Hannah being one of them, but there were no Slytherins. A minute or so later, Malfoy turned around the corner, but he wasn't alone; Pansy was hanging from his arm while Zabini and Theodore Nott trailed behind them. Eliza's stomach tightened into knots. She couldn't ask him in front of his mates. If there was even a slight possibility that he would say yes, it wouldn't be in front of them, and Liza doubted she'd even be able to get the words out to ask in front of them all anyway—she'd always struggled with finding the right words, especially in a crowd. She needed to find a way to take him aside.

"Malfoy," Eliza said, stepping in front of the four Slytherins. Pansy slanted her eyes as she tightened her grip on her boyfriend's arm. Eliza inhaled sharply, and Malfoy eyed her suspiciously. For a moment, no one said anything, but finally, Liza spoke again. "Can I speak with you?"

"Why," Pansy replied, and Eliza bit the inside of her cheek. She looked at Malfoy, who still hadn't said anything; instead, he lifted his brows in response.

"Filch," Eliza blurted out, causing everyone looks of confusion. Malfoy appeared amused, though, and she could have sworn she saw his lips twist into a quick smirk before returning to their natural state. "Filch asked me to ask you a question—privately."

Malfoy's grey eyes met hers for only a second before he turned to Pansy and grabbed her hand in an attempt to remove it from his arm.

"Give me a moment," Malfoy said. "I will meet you inside in a second."

Pansy looked skeptical, but did as he asked and headed into the classroom with Zabini and Nott on her heels. She made sure to give Eliza a nasty look as she walked by, but Liza didn't pay her any attention, she was too focused on what she was going to say now that she'd succeeded at getting Malfoy alone.

"Filch has a question for me?" Malfoy asked as soon as the others were out of earshot.

"Well, no," Eliza said, but Malfoy didn't seem very surprised by this. "I do have a question, though."

"What?" he replied, shoving his hands in his pockets.

"You're really good at potions."

"That's not a question."

Eliza bit the inside of her cheek. "True," she said, rocking back on her heels. She wasn't sure why she was so nervous, but if she was going to ask, she needed to do it quickly because class would be starting soon. "I was wondering if you could help me with Potions."

Malfoy arched a brow. "When? During class?"

"Well, no, actually whenever really. Like a tutor. I'm just completely rubbish and could really use some assistance."

"And what will I be getting out of this?" he asked, his expression completely flat.

Her cheeks flushed. She hadn't expected him to ask that. She expected a straight answer, not a proposal to swap favors.

"I-I mean, what do you have in mind?" she asked, staring up at him.

He shrugged. "I'll think about it and get back to you."

She didn't get the chance to say anything else before he walked past her into class. She couldn't tell whether or not that went well. He hadn't said no, which was a good sign, but he didn't say yes either. When she finally entered the classroom, Hannah eyed her suspiciously. She had probably been wondering where she'd wandered off to considering, last she checked, Eliza was right behind her on her sprint to Transfiguration, and then, on top of her disappearance, she walked in only seconds after Malfoy. To avoid having to answer any awkward questions, Eliza deiced to sit next to Ernie. He always went out of his way to make Eliza feel as comfortable as possible, and would definitely not spend the class period interrogating her—she couldn't say the same for Hannah.


	6. An untimely death

AN: Thanks everyone for reading! Please, please review! I like hearing your opinions.

Herbology was Eliza's favorite class; it was the only course she could confidently say she was good at. In fact, if it wasn't for Neville Longbottom, she would easily have the highest marks in her year—he always liked to keep things close, though. Today, Professor Sprout was teaching the sixth years about the Venomous Tentacula. This was a green, spikey plant with teeth and long feelers that were commonly used to reach out and capture its prey. It was kept in greenhouse three, and the students rarely got to be around it because of how dangerous it was. Eliza remembered once, during her second year, Sprout warned her class to not go near it because it was teething at the time. She did, however, promise them that if the plant were to ever attack them, they could swear loudly without any repercussions—Eliza didn't find this very reassuring; she much preferred to avoid getting attacked by poisonous plants all together.

Suddenly, the greenhouse door burst open, and McGonagall appeared in the doorway. Her face was flushed and she looked like she'd ran the entire way from the castle to here.

"Pomona—Professor Sprout, m-may I speak to you…privately." McGonagall said after catching her breath.

Sprout furrowed her brow. "Of course—class, I will only be a minute. Please review the lesson with a partner, and be careful not to get too close to the Tentacula."

Sprout followed McGonagall outside, and immediately the greenhouse filled with chatter; to no surprise, no one talked about the lesson.

Eliza listened half-heartily as Susan described her encounter with a dreamy Ravenclaw boy that morning. Susan started fancying a new bloke practically every day, so her stories about "love-at-first-sight" rarely gained much enthusiasm from her friends. Liza, Hannah, and Ernie merely nodded every few seconds to feign interest—it was their standard protocol. Unexpectedly, Eliza felt a tug at her sleeve. Quickly, she turned to see Harry had appeared at her side.

She smiled. "Hey."

"Hey," he said, his voice barely above a whisper. "How have things been going—" he paused a second and looked around. After verifying that no one was listening, he continued, "with Malfoy."

Eliza bit the inside of her cheek. "Alright, I guess."

He raised a brow in response, forcing her to elaborate. "We've been talking more, but he hasn't told me anything that would verify his…membership…or anything."

Harry nodded slowly. At first, his expression was strained, but eventually he forced a weary smile. "Well, thanks again for agreeing to do this. You just have to get him to trust you—to view you as his confidant."

Easier said than done, Eliza thought, but instead she replied, "I'll try my best."

He squeezed her shoulder. "I know."

Before Liza could say anything else, Professor Sprout burst back into the room. She looked visibly upset, and for a moment didn't say anything. Eventually, after gaining her composure, she spoke, "Students, we will be ending class early today. Please read the chapter on Venomous Tentaculas by next week and write a one page summary on what you learn. Ms. Abbott, please stay behind, I need to speak with you."

Several eyes turned to Hannah, who appeared just as surprised as everyone else that Sprout asked to speak with her alone. Eliza assumed it had to do with prefect duties or something considering Sprout was their head of house; she offered her friend a smile before filing out of the greenhouse with the others.

Later that day, Professor Sprout informed Eliza and her friends that Hannah would not be returning to school any time soon. Her mother had been found dead at home. Although it was uncertain how exactly she died, the Ministry suspected it was at the hands of Death Eaters. Hannah was very close to her mum, so Eliza couldn't imagine how she was feeling. Sure, she had also lost a parent to Death Eaters, but she had been too young to remember any of it. She had no memories of her dad. Everything she knew about him, including the way he looked, was from pictures and stories. Although her Mum wasn't very open to talking about her father, her Aunty Molly had hundreds of anecdotes to share from the time they were children up until his death. Eliza could sit and listen to Molly talk for hours about her father without getting bored.

Sprout took care of getting all of Hannah's things together, so Eliza didn't even get to tell her friend goodbye. She figured she would write to her in the next few days, after Hannah had a chance to process everything. That night, people were constantly coming up to her, Susan, and Ernie, asking about what happened. Although they all pretended to be sincere, Liza knew most of them were just being nosey, trying to find out as much as possible about the latest Hogwarts gossip.

It felt strange that night sleeping next to Hannah's empty bed. Hannah was the only person that knew about Eliza's nightmares. She didn't have them often, but when she did they were horrible and caused Eliza to feel like she couldn't breathe. It was scary, being half asleep and feeling like there was no oxygen. Like no matter how many breaths she took, she would never have enough air. Hannah always knew what to do, though. Sometimes, she'd conjure a paper bag to help Liza control her breathing, other times she would tell her a story to distract her. Eliza didn't know what she would do now when her dreams decided to haunt her.

The next day, Eliza spent her entire Saturday in an isolated corner of the library, getting caught up on homework. She wasn't in the mood to spend time with anyone, and she knew she wouldn't have very much time to work on her assignments tomorrow, given she'd be stuck in detention. Now, more than ever, she wanted to know if Malfoy was a Death Eater or not. It was hard to believe, no matter how arrogant or rude he was, that he could associate himself with something so evil. She needed answers. How exactly she was going to get them, she wasn't sure. She didn't have the first idea about how she was supposed to get Malfoy to trust her. For starters, he didn't seem like the type to be overly trusting, anyway, and they barely even knew each other. She supposed, for now, all she could do was force him to talk to her as much as possible.

Sunday afternoon arrived rather quickly, and before she knew it, Eliza found herself on the way to Filch's office. She actually hoped he would be holding detention today and not Hagrid. Another trip to the Dark Forest did not sound appealing; even if it was in the middle of the day. The room was empty when she arrived. She stood off to the side, resting her back against the wall. A slew of chains and shackles hung overhead, which she tried to avoid as much as possible. Malfoy appeared minutes later, but instead of taking his usual seat in Filch's chair, he walked over to Eliza.

"I heard about the girl in your house." He said, rocking back on his heels.

"She's my friend." Eliza said, and Malfoy nodded.

"Do you know what happened?" he asked, and she raised a brow. She found it suspicious that he had any interest in Hannah.

"They think Death Eaters. Her mum was a muggle." As she said this, Eliza tried to pay extra attention to Malfoy's reaction, but his face remained the same, his expression flat—he didn't even flinch.

"That's unfortunate," he said, and she nodded. She wasn't sure if he meant it was unfortunate that she'd been killed or if was unfortunate that she was a muggle, and she wasn't about to ask him to clarify. Seconds later, he spoke again. "I've given it some thought, and I will help you with Potions."

Liza's eyes widened. "Thank you-"

"There are some conditions," Malfoy said, and her face fell. She should have suspected Malfoy wouldn't help her out of the goodness of his heart.

"Go on," she said, biting the inside of her cheek; she was quite weary about what his conditions would entail.

"You can start doing my part of detention, and in exchange, I will try to teach you what I know about potions. There are no guarantees that you will get any better, though. I'm not a miracle worker."

Eliza decided to ignore Malfoy's insult, and instead focused on the fact that he wanted her to do double the work during detention. Given some of their tasks, it would take her far too long for her to finish everything on her own. They would be there for hours.

"That doesn't make any sense." Eliza said, placing her hands on her hips. "It will take me forever to finish all of our work!"

"I'm just trying to do you a favor." Eliza furrowed her brow in frustration. She wished she looked intimidating, but she knew that was highly unlikely. Someone of her stature and a face full of freckles didn't intimidate many people. Malfoy rolled his eyes. "Well, I guess you don't have to do all the work, but you will definitely be doing more! Especially the stuff I don't want to do."

Eliza sighed. "Fine."

He smirked. Before either of them could speak again, Filch hobbled into the room. If it was possible, he looked even worse off than before. There definitely didn't appear to be an end in sight for their detentions.

"Hello Mr. Filch-" Eliza began before he interrupted her with an unpleasant grunt. She pressed her back further to the wall; she wished she could disappear inside it.

"Today I will need you lot to clean the Owlery. It hasn't been properly cleaned in months."

Eliza inwardly groaned. She hated going to the Owlery. The floor was covered in owl droppings and regurgitated skeletons of mice and voles; it was disgusting. And now that she had her agreement with Malfoy, she knew she'd be doing most of the grunt work.

"We will start right away, sir." Malfoy said, grabbing Eliza's arm. He pulled her out of the room before Filch could say another word. Eliza narrowed her eyes, he was far too excited right now, and it was annoying.


End file.
